A Mighty Fine Comic-Con!

Lady Cordelia Cresswell’s Impeccable Inventions at the Comic-Con Art Show

Every year I perch over my computer, fingers poised to pounce upon the earliest possible opportunity to enter the lottery for Comic-Con badges. It’s more than just an event. It is THE event of the year.

Some of our family don’t celebrate normal holidays; we celebrate popular and obscure entertainment media at San Diego Comic-Con International. We take off work. We get in shape for the marathon walking sessions back and forth across the expanse of the San Diego Convention Center and adjoining hotel venues (the convention center is not big enough to hold all that fun). We create our costumes or just spice up our convention-wear. We peruse the programs for our favorite game, TV show, movie, artist, and author panels. And we wait for the badge lottery to be announced.

That’s a wheelchair under the Queen of Hearts’ throne!

This year we were again fortunate to score tickets for three of us to attend all four days. When that time comes that our luck runs out, I may have to drown my sorrow for the week of the con, but for now, our family tradition is in tact.

Comic-Con International (CCI) 2014 was a special year for Diana Diehl Presents. I obtained a table in the CCI Art Show. There is art everywhere on the exhibition floor; you can speak directly to the artists and have them autograph their work. But the Art Show is a closed area on the second floor with unmanned tables and displays. Most of the art is up for auction in a silent bid. I don’t know what percentage of the 130,000 CCI attendees view the Art Show, but I was exposing my inner soul to an audience larger than anything I could achieve anywhere else.

The most comfortable costume in the 90+ heat.

Some artists create only for the sake of creation and never show their work. I’m not of the Pure Art for Art’s Sake clan. I just wanted to show off Lady Cordelia Cresswell’s Impeccable Inventions, especially my new flotilla of mixed media, Steampunk, hot-air balloons. I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be anything else quite like it there, and there was not. There were plenty of Steampunk tables and the influence of the genre was obvious elsewhere. It’s still a niche genre, but more and more people have at least heard the

term.

Most things in the art show don’t sell–although prints of cats with wings, playful dragons, and pin-up

super-heroines are always popular– so I was pleased to sell two pieces: a necklace and a purse/stashbox. I hope that Lady Cordelia’s Portable Time Machine Oil Distillery will serve it’s new owner well. It’s one of Lady Cordelia’s more innovative modules, if I do say so myself.

Some of my time was devoted to setting up, breaking down, and loitering around my display to see people’s reactions. Nonetheless, I did have time to attend some wonderful panels about writing, art, pitching your product, and running a crowd source campaign. I also sat in the FilmPaint, Inc., booth, which is the display of Bruno

I watched some impressive indie films, and I thrilled to the sneak preview of the new Firefly Online MMORPG. Can’t wait to play! Out on the floor I like to network. I love talking with authors and artists to

League of STEAM booth on the exhibit floor

find out what motivates them. I connected with some incredibly creative people. Last but not least, I tip my hat to the brave attendees who come in costume; their dedication and painstaking craftsmanship always blows my mind.

As always, I left on Sunday, inspired, exhausted, and looking forward to the next year.